1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:04,480 Humans are always trying to be better, brighter, faster, 2 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:07,240 stronger, tougher... It's one of the things that makes us human. 3 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:10,760 But nature has spent 3.5 billion years 4 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:14,520 producing ingenious answers to life's questions. 5 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:17,920 So a lot of the problems we're trying to solve 6 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:20,440 have already been solved... 7 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:22,560 by evolution. 8 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:26,920 Meaning the animal kingdom is teeming with bright ideas. 9 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:30,200 Like, how to hear through solid rock. 10 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:33,840 Hello! 11 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:35,760 'How to see without using your eyes.' 12 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:38,760 This is what we'll all be in. This is the future. 13 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:43,040 'And how to feel something that happened 30 seconds earlier.' 14 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:44,960 That's astonishing. 15 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:48,800 'In this programme, we'll reveal some amazing animal abilities...' 16 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:50,440 Totally silent. 17 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:53,440 I had no idea she was there. 18 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:56,240 'And I'll discover how those same animals 19 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:58,840 'have inspired a series of human inventions 20 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:00,680 'at the very frontiers of science.' 21 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:02,520 Yes, it's gone! 22 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:04,720 'We'll have to go around the world 23 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:07,440 'and into some pretty unlikely situations.' 24 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:11,160 Let's hope they don't confuse this with the female elephant. 25 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:13,280 'Because you never quite know 26 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:16,440 'what surprises the animal kingdom has in store for you.' 27 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:18,240 Go! Ha-ha! 28 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:23,800 'It's all part of the miracle of nature.' 29 00:01:44,320 --> 00:01:49,120 Every one of us experiences the world through our senses. 30 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:52,840 But in the animal kingdom, 31 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:56,840 there are creatures with senses that go far beyond ours. 32 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:01,240 RATTLING 33 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:03,200 As I'd like to show you 34 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:06,440 with this Western diamondback rattlesnake. 35 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:11,120 But first, I'll need a bit of stick. 36 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:13,960 Quite a big bit. 37 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:23,160 So, first of all, a walkie-talkie. 38 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:31,200 There you go. 39 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:35,160 Now...telephone. 40 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:42,760 'OK, relax. That's the tense bit over with. 41 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:43,880 'I hope.' 42 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:47,200 Now, let's say I want to talk to my rattlesnake. 43 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:48,480 Walkie-talkie. 44 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:50,640 Hello, Mrs Snake. 45 00:02:50,640 --> 00:02:52,840 'Hello, sorry to wake you up. 46 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,600 'Hello. Hello?' 47 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:57,000 Nothing. 48 00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:58,320 And with good reason. 49 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:01,720 She can't hear. She has no ears. 50 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:04,480 So let's try something different. 51 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:06,800 Maybe she'd rather communicate by telephone. 52 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:10,800 The phone over there is on vibrate 53 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:14,480 and not ring, and that's quite important here. 54 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:17,520 It's dialling. 55 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:19,200 TELEPHONE VIBRATES 56 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:21,560 Straight away, a response. 57 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:22,920 TELEPHONE VIBRATES 58 00:03:22,920 --> 00:03:24,360 Immediately. 59 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:25,800 TELEPHONE VIBRATES 60 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:30,120 Now, that's because, while she can't hear, 61 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:33,000 she can feel the vibrations from that phone. 62 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:35,880 They go through the metal she's lying on, through her body, 63 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:37,960 and up to something called the quadrate bone, 64 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:40,000 in her head, just by her jaw, that vibrates, 65 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:43,040 so she can hear, if you like, the vibrations. 66 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:49,520 'In fact, rattlesnakes are so sensitive to the power of vibration 67 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:52,840 'that it provides them with a sort of super sense.' 68 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:55,720 And that is something that takes us to what we're doing next, 69 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:58,200 which is very clever indeed. 70 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:00,080 I need to get my phone back, I... 71 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:04,480 I'll come back for it later, 72 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:06,720 I'll stick with this one. 73 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:16,440 These animal super senses are what this programme is all about. 74 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:19,600 Super senses that engineers and scientists are using 75 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:24,160 as inspiration to help improve our own lives. 76 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:35,400 Hello, right. I'm in the gold mine. 77 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:38,800 'I'm in like a very narrow corridor, it's very cramped.' 78 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:44,560 I have agreed to take part in a pretty unusual experiment. 79 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:49,760 From here on in, I'm at the mercy of these two men, 80 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:52,440 who are about to trigger what can only be described 81 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:55,680 as a rather dramatic chain of events. 82 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:19,520 I've come to like an old, broken wooden door thing. 83 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:21,080 'I'm going through.' 84 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:25,520 Hello? Can you hear me, hello? 85 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:27,720 MUFFLED NOISE 86 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:33,920 Of course, they can't hear me, the radio doesn't work down here. 87 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:38,760 And my cellphone, well, that's long since given up the ghost. No signal. 88 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:42,880 So I have no means of communication between here and the surface. 89 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:46,720 And that is a problem, because, in about 30 seconds' time, 90 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:50,800 they're going to explode the doorway into this gold mine. 91 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:58,640 They told me that by the time I lost phone and radio signal, 92 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:00,840 I'd be deep enough to be safe. 93 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:05,760 I hope they're right. 94 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:46,440 So here's the situation. 95 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:49,480 I am now trapped in the mine. 96 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:51,840 I've got no means of telling anybody on the surface 97 00:06:51,840 --> 00:06:54,000 where I am or how I am. 98 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:56,720 The only thing that stands a chance of saving me 99 00:06:56,720 --> 00:06:59,400 has its roots on the other side of the planet - 100 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:00,560 in Africa. 101 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:12,840 And the answer lies with one particular African animal. 102 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:17,920 The biggest African animal of them all - 103 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:19,880 the elephant. 104 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:25,760 Because some scientists think 105 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:29,680 that elephants can communicate over huge distances 106 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:32,880 using nothing but vibrations through the ground. 107 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:43,800 And elephant researcher, Dr Kate Evans, has offered to show me how. 108 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:00,760 OK, now, this bit, I understand, is a speaker, quite a big one. Yes. 109 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:03,640 But you're pointing it straight down at the ground. 110 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:06,200 Now, with a home stereo, that'd be a disaster, 111 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:08,120 but you're doing something different here. 112 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:11,440 Well, what we really want to do is kind of pretend it's an elephant, 113 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:12,800 if you see what I mean. Yes. 114 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:16,680 A very large elephant, you wouldn't want to come across it, that's for sure! Enormous! 115 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:17,760 SHE CHUCKLES 116 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:22,280 'Obviously Kate's only building the foot. Not the whole elephant. 117 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:26,520 'But it will send an elephant signal straight down into the ground.' 118 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:31,040 The theory is that the energy passes down into the ground and out. 119 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:34,280 So that's why we want a really good connection with the ground. 120 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:37,560 Right. OK. I will hammer. Hammer away. Yes. 121 00:08:37,560 --> 00:08:42,000 'Nailing the speaker to sand might seem a bit, well, daft, 122 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:45,640 'but we do need to get the best connection we can 123 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:50,360 'if we're really going to punch out those low frequency vibrations.' 124 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:53,160 This is genuinely quite exciting. SHE CHUCKLES 125 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:59,800 'We even mimic the elephant's weight by piling sand bags on top. 126 00:09:03,680 --> 00:09:06,840 'With our elephant-tech transmitter finally complete, 127 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:10,280 'Kate and I retreat to a safe distance.' 128 00:09:12,560 --> 00:09:15,960 This sound, who's saying what in it? 129 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:18,800 We previously recorded a known female. 130 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:21,720 She was going into oestrus, 131 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:23,880 which is when females are receptive to mating. 132 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:27,400 And so, what we hope is that this call will attract the males in. 133 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:28,880 'So, to put it bluntly, 134 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:32,360 'we're broadcasting an elephant come on.' 135 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:37,120 But even with an offer like that, 136 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:39,120 there is no guarantee of success. 137 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:44,440 Because the nearest male elephants 138 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:46,720 our camera team have been able to find 139 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:51,080 are more than a mile away, drinking at a bend in a noisy river. 140 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:59,120 Is it even remotely possible that they'll pick up on our signal? 141 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:02,360 Time to find out. 142 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:08,880 The call isn't being transmitted through the air, 143 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:10,360 so we can't hear it. 144 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:15,280 But we can see the speaker moving. 145 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:21,040 We agreed to trigger the signals at a pre-arranged time. 146 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:25,280 So if there's any reaction from the male elephants at the river, 147 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:27,960 we've got a better chance of spotting it. 148 00:10:34,560 --> 00:10:37,040 Our camera team don't have to wait long. 149 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:47,320 Within moments, the three males are moving away up the bank. 150 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:53,600 But we've no way of knowing 151 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:57,320 if they're responding to our empty promise of elephant romance. 152 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:04,480 Not unless they come straight to our transmitter, 153 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:06,960 which might create its own problems. 154 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:09,800 They will after all be looking for love. 155 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:13,000 Let's hope they don't confuse this with the female elephant, 156 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:17,240 cos I'm not sure this is going to sustain five tonnes of weight. 157 00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:20,520 Yeah, well, it's a nice-looking truck, but even so... 158 00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:21,920 SHE CHUCKLES 159 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:25,120 Ooh, I wish you hadn't said that, I don't want to sit here and wait now. 160 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:26,480 SHE LAUGHS 161 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:30,160 But wait, we must... 162 00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:36,560 ..because it's going to take those elephants 163 00:11:36,560 --> 00:11:39,880 a fair while to get to us through the thick scrub. 164 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:55,800 Unfortunately, the terrain proves just too overgrown 165 00:11:55,800 --> 00:11:57,480 for our camera team to follow. 166 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:00,840 The last they see of them, 167 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:04,160 the elephants are disappearing into the trees. 168 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:22,880 There you go! 169 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:27,080 'And then, out of the blue, they appear.' 170 00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:29,320 There's three! Wow! 171 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:31,320 They're straight through. Yeah. 172 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:38,560 He's definitely looking for something. Yeah. 173 00:12:38,560 --> 00:12:41,080 He's got something on his mind, hasn't he? 174 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:48,360 There's no doubt the lead male is interested. 175 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:57,320 So you can imagine his disappointment 176 00:12:57,320 --> 00:12:59,720 when, instead of an amorous female, 177 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:02,640 all he finds is a scruffy pile of sacks. 178 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:05,600 We've all been there. 179 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:14,040 But he has provided pretty compelling evidence 180 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:17,560 of the elephant's ability to do what a rattlesnake does - 181 00:13:17,560 --> 00:13:19,680 hear through the ground. 182 00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:24,720 I'd like to think we just had a bit of a chat... 183 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:26,120 What did we say? 184 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:28,880 Shot the breeze. I've no idea, no idea. 185 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:30,360 SHE CHUCKLES 186 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:33,080 'So, with the help of elephants, 187 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:36,960 'we've successfully managed to send signals through the earth. 188 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:44,840 But can that elephant technology help rescue me 189 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:48,440 from a Californian gold mine? 190 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:57,160 Well, it's not quite an elephant, but it is an ELF - 191 00:13:57,160 --> 00:13:59,120 an extreme low frequency device. 192 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:02,320 And it can do, hopefully, what elephants can do so effectively, 193 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:06,160 which is transmit, communicate through solid rock. 194 00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:07,960 Quite a lot of it, in this instance. 195 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:10,440 All I've got to do is assemble it. 196 00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:16,600 'It works in exactly the same way as our artificial elephant's foot. 197 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:21,240 'Only this time, the speaker is pointing upwards.' 198 00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:25,000 This bit here will connect the device with the rock. 199 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:29,200 Obviously, you don't need me to tell you 200 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:33,120 that people do get trapped in mines for real 201 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:35,080 without the benefit of a TV crew 202 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:37,040 and, more importantly, without the benefit 203 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:39,520 of any means of communicating with the surface. 204 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:42,560 Sometimes with terrible consequences. 205 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:45,560 This device could give them a chance. 206 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:53,040 The whole system has been designed so it can run on 12 volts, 207 00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:54,520 from car batteries, 208 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:57,480 which is pretty handy if you're stuck down a mine like this. 209 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:01,240 So the control box has various zones, various sectors, 210 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:03,600 because in any mine, such as this, 211 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:07,440 they would have agreed in advance where different sectors are. 212 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:10,840 So if I set this into five, that is telling them... 213 00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:12,040 And there it goes. 214 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:15,000 That's telling them I'm in sector five, so they know where I am. 215 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:17,520 And I can tell them the air quality is OK. 216 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:20,560 So now, they know where I am and how I am. 217 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:22,600 At least, I'm telling them, 218 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:26,160 because I know the signal is leaving me and going up into the rock. 219 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:28,440 What I've no way of knowing right now 220 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:31,680 is whether or not they're receiving that vital information. 221 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:35,320 In other words, 222 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:39,000 have we the capability to do what the elephant does, 223 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,440 and pick those vibrations up? 224 00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:47,640 100 feet above me, the ELF's inventors, 225 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:50,520 Jim Squire and Jay Sullivan, believe we have. 226 00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:57,080 With the help of this small spiked cylinder. 227 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:00,920 This is the ELF's receiver, 228 00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:04,920 relaying any vibrations from below back to Jim and Jay's base unit. 229 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:07,800 All right, let's start acquiring. 230 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:16,960 At this sort of depth, we should have the answer 231 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:19,240 in around 10 seconds, if he's sending right now. 232 00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:29,440 OK, it looks like we're getting a signal now. 233 00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:34,480 And there it is. 234 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:37,360 Location five, good air. 235 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:41,400 And that's the point at which they'd normally send in the rescue teams. 236 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:49,480 But...I don't really need them. 237 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:53,760 Well, no, they didn't actually shut me in a gold mine 238 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:55,240 and blow up the only exit. 239 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:57,000 There'd have been a lot of paperwork. 240 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:00,920 And, anyway, the point is we've proved it works. Thank you, guys! 241 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:07,800 And thank you too to the African elephant, 242 00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:10,200 whose extraordinary super sense 243 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:14,800 might help transform mine safety and save lives. 244 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:21,960 With results like that, 245 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:24,760 it's no surprise that scientists and engineers 246 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:28,560 keep coming back to the natural world for inspiration. 247 00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:30,880 And there's plenty to inspire them. 248 00:17:36,120 --> 00:17:37,800 At this very moment, 249 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:41,520 there are more than a million species of creature alive on Earth. 250 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:47,640 Scientists estimate that, in reality, 251 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:51,360 there might be eight or nine times that amount. 252 00:17:51,360 --> 00:17:55,320 So who knows what some of those creatures might be able to teach us. 253 00:17:55,320 --> 00:17:59,320 Lessons we could apply to a whole host of human problems. 254 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:07,120 Problems like - how can you see in the pitch black? 255 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:15,200 I want you to watch the next 30 seconds very carefully. 256 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:54,360 In just a few minutes, 257 00:18:54,360 --> 00:18:57,760 a second rider is going to come down this track. 258 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:01,480 Through the same twists and turns, 259 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:05,280 over the same humps and bumps. 260 00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:08,680 But with one, big difference - 261 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:11,720 this rider is blind. 262 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:16,240 So how is that possible? 263 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:18,520 When practically all he sees around him... 264 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:22,440 ..is black! 265 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:28,680 To find out, we need to start with a creature 266 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:32,720 that spends the majority of its life in permanent darkness. 267 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:36,760 A creature that can navigate its way around these caves and caverns 268 00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:38,400 without using a head torch. 269 00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:41,440 In fact, without using its eyes at all. 270 00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:55,240 I'm talking about bats. Of course! 271 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:59,120 Because we all know that bats can get around in the dark. 272 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:04,120 But bat expert Dr Dean Waters is about to show me 273 00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:07,440 that their senses are far cleverer than that. 274 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:09,600 Have you got one? I've got one here. 275 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:12,200 This is an Egyptian fruit bat. Hello, Egyptian fruit bat. 276 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:14,480 And they are very sweet-looking creatures, 277 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:17,000 cos some bats, horseshoes and such are... 278 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:18,880 look like, "Argh," they're horrible. 279 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:21,800 Yeah, I mean, no offence, I'm sure they look lovely to one another, 280 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:25,480 but this, to us, is aesthetically, quite a handsome little thing. 281 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:29,000 So beautiful big eyes and they also have this lovely ears that are very, very mobile 282 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:30,560 that they wiggle around a lot. 283 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:33,000 And they echolocate through their mouth. 284 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:36,320 They'll open their mouth and click from side to side with their tongue. 285 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:37,640 CLICKING SOUND 286 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:39,360 That's it? That's it, very simple. 287 00:20:39,360 --> 00:20:41,720 So it's not like a special... It's just their tongue... 288 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:43,200 Just a click, that's it. 289 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:44,800 CLICKING SOUND 290 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:48,080 'But that simple clicking is enough for the fruit bat 291 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:51,480 'to find its way about with amazing precision. 292 00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:55,640 'And Dean believes it can build up 293 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:59,640 'an incredibly detailed picture of its surroundings. 294 00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:09,680 But just how accurate is it? 295 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:13,080 Time to put the bat's super sense to the test. 296 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:25,560 We're using a very hi-tech combination 297 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:28,120 of cup hooks, bells and string 298 00:21:28,120 --> 00:21:31,280 to make a type of bat slalom course. 299 00:21:35,120 --> 00:21:38,280 OK, then, Dean. Lights out, let's see what we've got. 300 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:44,480 We've got a dark cave, thin strings and bats. Yeah. 301 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:46,440 What are we hoping for? 302 00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:49,560 Well, we're looking at how good these bats' echolocation calls are. 303 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:52,520 It's always been described as a simple or primitive system. 304 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:55,080 It sounds rubbish. Yeah, it doesn't sound very impressive. 305 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:58,160 No. But if you look very carefully at the call structure, 306 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:01,440 it's almost exactly the same type of calls that dolphins use. 307 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:04,040 And we know that dolphins are very, very good echolocators. 308 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:06,480 So what we're hoping for is that they dodge the strings, 309 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:08,840 and we'll know if they hit them cos of the bells. 310 00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:10,880 Yeah, absolutely. Right. 311 00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:16,160 But we really haven't made it easy for them. 312 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:20,160 The strings are less than a centimetre wide 313 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:23,360 and the gaps between them are much narrower 314 00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:25,760 than the bats two-foot wingspan. 315 00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:36,480 Yeah. Unfortunately, our experiment has one fatal flaw. 316 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:39,880 We can't actually see if it's working. 317 00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:41,760 We don't hear any bells, 318 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:44,720 but the bats might have all flown off for all we know. 319 00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:50,160 So we have a little re-think, 320 00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:53,160 set up a special night-vision camera, 321 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:55,680 and turn on an infrared light. 322 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:02,000 The bats will still be in pitch black, 323 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:05,480 but now, we should be able to see them via Dean's laptop. 324 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:11,720 Success. 325 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:14,400 Except the cave appears to be completely empty. 326 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:20,400 But then, a single bat appears. 327 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:28,440 And what he does next is remarkable. 328 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:36,440 Nearly, go on, you're going to go through... 329 00:23:41,360 --> 00:23:43,680 Oh, that's perfect, no, that's absolutely perfect. 330 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:45,640 That was... He was bringing his wings in, 331 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:48,560 he knew they were either side, exactly where they were. 332 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:51,880 Right, so again. Here comes one now. 333 00:23:56,360 --> 00:23:59,440 So this supposedly primitive system 334 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:04,080 is capable of picking up even the slightest of obstacles. 335 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:07,760 So accurately that the bats don't even bother pulling their wing in 336 00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:10,120 till the last possible moment. 337 00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:20,120 They make it look easy, but it's not. 338 00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:27,040 There's an awful lot going on to enable that little bat 339 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:28,640 to fly around in the pitch dark. 340 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:31,520 It is a wonderfully sophisticated little animal. 341 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:35,360 And the thought was always that these guys, their echolocation system was a bit primitive, 342 00:24:35,360 --> 00:24:38,400 a bit basic compared with the other smaller types of bat. 343 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:41,520 Yeah. But what this proves, in fact, is that it's not at all, 344 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:43,360 I mean, it's quite finesse. 345 00:24:43,360 --> 00:24:45,120 They'd go down to this wide. 346 00:24:45,120 --> 00:24:47,680 Absolutely, these guys know exactly where these wires are, 347 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:50,040 and that's purely through their echolocation system, 348 00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:53,280 cos it's pitch black in here, there's no other way they'd know they're there. 349 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:56,880 So if a bat can use sound, 350 00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:01,240 a series of small clicks, to see in the dark, 351 00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:03,560 maybe it could work for human beings. 352 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,960 This man, Professor Brian Hoyle, 353 00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:21,560 believes he's found a way to do just that, 354 00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:25,800 by putting bat-tech in a stick. 355 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:28,240 So, this isn't just a bit like the way a bat works. 356 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:29,640 This is echolocated. 357 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:34,320 It is very, very similar indeed. Over to you. Right, it's beeping at me! 358 00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:37,120 That was you! It was me. It's found you! Look at that! 359 00:25:37,120 --> 00:25:38,400 And if I move it off, it stops. 360 00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:40,840 I'm going to go behind you, so I can see what's going on. 361 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:42,040 I felt you walk through. 362 00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:44,560 So, what I'm doing now, this is sending out a noise, 363 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:47,720 the same as a bat does, and then listening for it bouncing back, 364 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:51,400 echoing back off objects, which is exactly what our bats did. 365 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:54,040 It then tells me, by buzzing, on this. Absolutely. 366 00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:56,320 And you can feel it. So, if I walk towards that. 367 00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:58,440 Ooh, it's found something. Just take it slowly. 368 00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:00,720 It's buzzing through my thumb. Good. 369 00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:02,920 If I move off, it's not. Great. 370 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:05,440 So, it's telling me there's an object to my left. 371 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:08,760 You found a safe path to the right. There's nothing to my right. 372 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:11,600 Nothing, Nothing... Oh! There's a sudden buzz. 373 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:15,920 If I move off to the right - nothing. To the left - something. 374 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:20,680 To the right, nothing. So, I would know I'm OK going this way. 375 00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:22,600 And it gets faster as you get closer to it, 376 00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:24,640 it buzzes through your thumb more quickly. 377 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:26,800 That's correct, absolutely. 378 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:30,000 You don't need me to tell you, Brian, that your invention works. 379 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,360 Because it does! Fantastic, great. 380 00:26:32,360 --> 00:26:33,920 Bring on the blindfold. 381 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:35,520 Let's give this a proper go. 382 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:39,880 Right, let's see if I can pick up in a matter of minutes 383 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:44,240 what it's taken the fruit bat millions of years to perfect. 384 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:48,680 Nothing - oh! Something, to my right. 385 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:50,680 Hang on, there's a gap there. 386 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:54,080 I've got something to my left, there. And to my right, there. 387 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:04,520 Picked up something, then. 388 00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:08,080 Oh, that's a mannequin, isn't it? 389 00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:17,880 Slowly, but surely, I can see how somebody could build up a picture. 390 00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:21,760 Right, the only thing is, I have no idea where I've ended up. 391 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:23,520 Right, I had no idea that I was here. 392 00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:25,280 Well, I think you did really well, 393 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:27,600 and I don't think you bumped into anything. 394 00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:29,800 I didn't hit anything. 395 00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:33,040 'Surprisingly, that's not down to luck, but to my brain.' 396 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:34,360 And what you're doing, then, 397 00:27:34,360 --> 00:27:38,360 is this information goes into your brain, and it's processed 398 00:27:38,360 --> 00:27:40,200 through the same part of your brain 399 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:42,240 that actually processes sight. It is. 400 00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:44,680 Which means when we talk about using this to see, 401 00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:46,880 as far as sure brain's concerned, you really are. 402 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:49,560 You're building up the picture in the same place you're seeing. 403 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:52,240 If you think it's the brain that sees, not the eyes, 404 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:53,840 then you're seeing. Right. 405 00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:57,360 'And that's the remarkable thing. 406 00:27:57,360 --> 00:28:00,760 'Our brains can adjust astoundingly quickly 407 00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:04,440 'to using our senses in a completely different way.' 408 00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:13,920 So, I thought, what if we take this whole idea a step further, 409 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:17,200 and use bat sonar to enable blind people to do something 410 00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:18,880 they wouldn't normally even attempt. 411 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:21,600 So, I've taken apart a couple of canes, 412 00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:25,320 and I've come up with this, the Bat Bike. 413 00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:27,400 Now, let me talk you through this. 414 00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:30,640 Essentially, it's a prototype at the moment, but it shows the principle. 415 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:32,840 We've got two Bat Cane handles up here on the bars, 416 00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:36,600 with the contact pads, feeding back information to the rider from 417 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:38,680 the sensors in the handles themselves, 418 00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:40,480 then we've got two more down here. 419 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:42,960 I reckon that should be enough information feeding back 420 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:46,400 to the rider to enable a blind person to ride 421 00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:49,600 a mountain bike down a mountain bike course. 422 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:54,240 Now I say it out loud, that is quite a big ask, but it could work. 423 00:28:56,120 --> 00:29:00,040 By the time engineers have built our Bat Bike properly 424 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:05,400 a few of the details have changed, but the theory remains the same. 425 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:09,760 These sensors send out and receive a series of clicks 426 00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:14,680 and a couple of vibrating buttons tell the rider what's up ahead. 427 00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:22,080 But now it's actually come to it, 428 00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:25,120 I'm not sure who's more nervous - 429 00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:29,880 me, or 21-year-old Dan Smith, who actually has to ride this thing. 430 00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:35,400 A keen cyclist, Dan tragically lost his sight nine months ago 431 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:38,000 from a rare genetic condition. 432 00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:41,840 He hasn't been able to ride a bike on his own since. 433 00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:47,960 Although most of the damage to his eyes is invisible, trust me, 434 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:51,360 Dan can't see anything in front of him. 435 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:56,960 Five, four, three, two, one, go! 436 00:29:59,840 --> 00:30:03,960 HEART BEATS 437 00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:46,000 MACHINE BEEPS 438 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:56,080 Dan only had a few short hours to practice on this bike, 439 00:30:56,080 --> 00:31:02,040 but bat technology is allowing his brain to see the course. 440 00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:18,240 Well, there can be no clearer proof the bat tech works. 441 00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:20,000 Yeah, very good, actually. 442 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,280 It's really good to be back on a single bike again, 443 00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:26,240 but the technology works, because I've just navigated 444 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:30,160 the whole track by myself, so I'm very pleased, yeah. 445 00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:32,160 Now, obviously, it might be a little while 446 00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:36,040 before visually-impaired cyclists take to our roads, 447 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:39,760 but bat technology may just have opened up their lives 448 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:41,840 like never before. 449 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:53,720 Super senses don't just sound cool, they're really useful. 450 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:56,760 It's a huge advantage to an animal to be able to see more clearly, 451 00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:58,640 or hear more clearly. 452 00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:00,880 But, what if you're on the receiving end? 453 00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:04,200 What if you're an animal that doesn't want to be seen or heard? 454 00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:07,480 Well, evolution can provide an answer to that, too. 455 00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:22,120 This place is very special. 456 00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:27,720 At about this time of year once, maybe twice a week, 457 00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:31,960 a unique phenomenon occurs, almost within touching distance. 458 00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:35,000 And that's why, although this beach is far from easy to get to, 459 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:38,200 it draws fascinated onlookers from all over the world, 460 00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:41,560 each hoping to see and hear something they'd be 461 00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:45,520 very unlikely to encounter at such close quarters anywhere else. 462 00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:57,200 And it's something that's going to happen any moment now. 463 00:32:57,200 --> 00:32:59,680 All we can do is watch and wait. 464 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:15,240 This is it. Here it comes. 465 00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:19,400 It's the weekly arrival of Flight 785 from Amsterdam. 466 00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:24,240 All here to see this. I know! 467 00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:30,080 Because here, on this very beach, you can get closer 468 00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:34,120 to a landing jumbo than practically anywhere else on the planet. 469 00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:37,960 And it's an ear-splitting experience. 470 00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:39,800 PLANE ENGINE GROWS LOUDER 471 00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:43,600 Now, believe it or not, most of that noise comes not from 472 00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:48,520 the plane's engines, just from the wind rushing around the aeroplane. 473 00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:50,160 In other words, turbulence! 474 00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:52,520 ENGINE ROARS 475 00:33:58,040 --> 00:33:59,280 A lot of it! 476 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:06,600 I mean, a lot! 477 00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:11,200 That turbulence is generated every time a plane pushes through the air. 478 00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:16,360 But, surely, there has to be a quieter way to fly? 479 00:34:24,640 --> 00:34:27,760 There is one creature which, despite having a top speed 480 00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:33,240 well in excess of 30 miles an hour, is virtually silent. 481 00:34:38,720 --> 00:34:41,960 Somewhere around here is one of those creatures 482 00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:44,440 that's been specially trained to go into a hunting mode 483 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:45,840 when they hear this noise... 484 00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:47,800 MACHINE BEEPS ..that's coming from that 485 00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:50,880 beeper down there, being operated by this button in my hand. 486 00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:52,240 So, here's the set up. 487 00:34:52,240 --> 00:34:53,920 I'm going to lie down here, 488 00:34:53,920 --> 00:34:58,040 with the beeper hidden next to my head 489 00:34:58,040 --> 00:34:59,560 and sound it. 490 00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:03,160 My job is to try and take a photograph of the creature as it attacks. 491 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:06,000 But to make that just an extra little bit tricky, 492 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:09,400 give me more of a challenge, I shall be blindfolded. 493 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:17,040 So, really all I can do is listen for my attacker. 494 00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:18,680 Right. 495 00:35:18,680 --> 00:35:23,200 Well, let's get started. I am now the prey. 496 00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:25,800 MACHINE BEEPS 497 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:29,920 Time to summon my trained attacker. 498 00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:37,720 It's surprisingly tense. 499 00:35:37,720 --> 00:35:39,880 MACHINE BEEPS 500 00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:42,320 If the creature appears, I've got nothing but my ears 501 00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:45,320 to warn me of its approach. 502 00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:48,480 MACHINE BEEPS 503 00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:55,880 MACHINE BEEPS 504 00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:58,880 It's the waiting that gets you! 505 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:03,200 MACHINE BEEPS 506 00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:23,120 And this is that creature - a barn owl. 507 00:36:35,600 --> 00:36:37,200 GRASS RUSTLES 508 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:38,560 CAMERA CLICKS 509 00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:43,240 Wow, that was genuinely amazing. 510 00:36:43,240 --> 00:36:45,920 When somebody tells you something like, 511 00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:48,720 "A barn owl can fly silently," 512 00:36:48,720 --> 00:36:53,000 I generally take it with a pinch of salt, but trust me, they can. 513 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:56,800 I had no idea she was there until she hit the ground. 514 00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:01,040 Totally silent. 515 00:37:05,400 --> 00:37:07,400 And owls need to be. 516 00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:13,640 Take this tawny owl, for instance. 517 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:27,920 Silent flight, as we've seen, allows an owl 518 00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:30,240 to creep up on its prey. 519 00:37:38,560 --> 00:37:42,000 But it also means that their wings can operate quietly enough 520 00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:45,520 that they can hear that prey over their own flapping. 521 00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:07,040 But to see what makes owl flight so special, 522 00:38:07,040 --> 00:38:09,000 we need a little experiment. 523 00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:13,400 Starting with this pigeon. 524 00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:23,080 Just watch what happens when it flies across a bed of feathers. 525 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:31,200 That is turbulence in action. 526 00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:38,960 Now here's an owl attempting the same thing. 527 00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:50,560 There's almost no disturbance at all. 528 00:38:57,280 --> 00:38:59,120 But how on earth is it doing it? 529 00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:08,720 Well, it turns out that owl wings have three very special features. 530 00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:13,000 These tiny knobbly teeth stop the front edge creating 531 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:15,440 one big whirlpool of air. 532 00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:20,680 Then a layer of soft, velvety feathers keeps 533 00:39:20,680 --> 00:39:22,720 that airflow close to the wing. 534 00:39:24,120 --> 00:39:27,960 And finally, that tattered back edge reduces turbulence 535 00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:29,760 as the air leaves the wing. 536 00:39:32,680 --> 00:39:37,080 So I thought, what if I could make an airplane wing like an owl's wing? 537 00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:48,520 Unfortunately, I could only find one place willing to let me have a go - 538 00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:51,240 an airplane graveyard. 539 00:39:51,240 --> 00:39:53,960 I've had to improvise a bit, with materials and such, 540 00:39:53,960 --> 00:39:56,800 but that's how it is with science. 541 00:39:56,800 --> 00:39:58,520 And here it is, it's got everything. 542 00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:01,520 The egg boxes give the leading edge that knobbly profile, 543 00:40:01,520 --> 00:40:04,080 to break up the airflow into smaller vortices. 544 00:40:04,080 --> 00:40:05,760 The carpet, the texture, 545 00:40:05,760 --> 00:40:09,280 breaks up the huge bubble of disturbed air and reduces noise, 546 00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:13,080 and the trailing edge is serrated, and that cuts down on noise, as well. 547 00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:18,000 So, why don't all aeroplane wings look like this? 548 00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:22,880 Well, it turns out it's not that simple. 549 00:40:26,160 --> 00:40:28,520 The problem is one of scale. 550 00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:33,240 That amount of egg boxes and carpet 551 00:40:33,240 --> 00:40:36,520 would just slow the plane down too much. 552 00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:40,680 And the serrated lino would apparently 553 00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:43,520 get in the way of the flaps they use for braking. 554 00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:48,920 So it looks like the sightseers of St Maarten 555 00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:51,240 are safe for the moment. 556 00:40:51,240 --> 00:40:53,520 Science isn't about to spoil their fun. 557 00:40:57,040 --> 00:40:59,000 But all is not lost. 558 00:41:02,440 --> 00:41:06,920 It turns out there are smaller wings that would benefit 559 00:41:06,920 --> 00:41:09,040 from owl technology. 560 00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:14,760 It's just that they're attached to fans. 561 00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:21,680 And that might turn out to be even more important. 562 00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:38,160 FAN WHIRS 563 00:41:38,160 --> 00:41:42,240 OK, so a silent fan might not sound as exciting as 564 00:41:42,240 --> 00:41:45,160 a huge, furry aircraft wing, but bear with me, 565 00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:48,440 because silent fans would make a bigger difference 566 00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:50,000 than you might think. 567 00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:51,360 FAN GOES SILENT 568 00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:54,240 Imagine silent computers, silent hairdryers, 569 00:41:54,240 --> 00:41:58,360 silent vacuum cleaners, silent wind farms, silent air-conditioning. 570 00:41:59,880 --> 00:42:03,120 Because all those fans suffer the same sort of problems 571 00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:05,680 with turbulence that planes do. 572 00:42:09,240 --> 00:42:12,920 So, the inventors of this fan have used owl tech to break up 573 00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:16,600 that turbulence, by adding serrations to the back edge. 574 00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:25,040 And the result is a fan that is very, very quiet indeed. 575 00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:31,760 No matter how hard you listen. 576 00:42:35,400 --> 00:42:39,520 So, this owl technology, copied directly from the way 577 00:42:39,520 --> 00:42:42,720 a barn owl protects its super-sensitive hearing from wind noise, 578 00:42:42,720 --> 00:42:47,320 could end up making our noisy world just a little bit quieter. 579 00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:52,440 At least until the next plane comes along. 580 00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:55,000 PLANE ENGINE ROARS 581 00:43:03,360 --> 00:43:07,840 Sometimes inspiration from nature is right under our noses. 582 00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:11,520 Take whiskers, for instance. We all think we know what they're for - 583 00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:14,440 so that cats don't get their heads stuck in railings. 584 00:43:14,440 --> 00:43:17,680 But, in fact, they're far more sophisticated than that. 585 00:43:21,600 --> 00:43:25,240 And this is exactly the animal to show us. 586 00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:33,360 Harbour seals spend much of their time submerged in murky waters, 587 00:43:33,360 --> 00:43:35,920 where visibility is next to nothing. 588 00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:46,080 And yet they're still able to hunt fast-moving fish 589 00:43:46,080 --> 00:43:48,640 with frightening accuracy. 590 00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:57,440 Well, believe it or not, they're finding them with their whiskers. 591 00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:11,520 A harbour seal called Henry is going to show me how. 592 00:44:15,040 --> 00:44:18,720 Hello. Hello. This is Henry, then? This is Henry, right. 593 00:44:18,720 --> 00:44:22,200 Hello, Henry. Say hello. Hello. 594 00:44:23,880 --> 00:44:27,920 So, these whiskers, I don't want to touch them because they're so sensitive, 595 00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:31,920 are they very delicate if I touch them? Yeah, you can touch them. 596 00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:34,400 I know that these are serious instruments, aren't they? 597 00:44:34,400 --> 00:44:35,920 What can he do with them? 598 00:44:35,920 --> 00:44:40,120 They can use them similar to us, our hands, so they know your fist 599 00:44:40,120 --> 00:44:46,000 is smaller than my fist, for example. He can tell this is a smaller hand than yours, with his whiskers? Yeah. 600 00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:54,600 Now, normally I wouldn't advise you to do this. Seals are quite bitey. 601 00:44:54,600 --> 00:44:57,760 But Henry is a particularly accommodating harbour seal. 602 00:44:57,760 --> 00:45:01,640 He works hand-in-flipper with Doctor Sven Wieskotten. 603 00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:04,920 And when he's doing this work with you, 604 00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:07,880 why is he willing to be trained and to work with you like this? 605 00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:09,400 That's easy. 606 00:45:09,400 --> 00:45:12,640 Yeah. He does like a fish, doesn't he? He does like the fish. 607 00:45:12,640 --> 00:45:17,040 So this whole array of whiskers around his snout here, 608 00:45:17,040 --> 00:45:19,720 that's another sense? That's another sense. 609 00:45:19,720 --> 00:45:22,760 So they don't have hands like us... Goodbye. 610 00:45:22,760 --> 00:45:26,840 Goodbye, Henry. Go have a splash. He got bored, I think! 611 00:45:28,720 --> 00:45:31,560 But Henry's whiskers are useful for much more 612 00:45:31,560 --> 00:45:35,000 than a game of guess the size of the presenter's hand, 613 00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:36,600 as Sven is about to show me. 614 00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:45,600 All we need is a remote-controlled submarine, a friendly seal 615 00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:47,440 and a blindfold. 616 00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:51,040 How are you going to put a blindfold on a seal? Oh, that's easy. 617 00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:55,200 We trained this and now he's jumping through the mask. No, he's not! 618 00:45:55,200 --> 00:45:57,040 He jumps through it. 619 00:45:57,040 --> 00:46:00,080 RICHARD LAUGHS That's astonishing! 620 00:46:00,080 --> 00:46:03,040 Having jumped into his blindfold, 621 00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:05,880 Henry obligingly moves into his starting position. 622 00:46:07,320 --> 00:46:12,240 Sven puts headphones over his ears and plays him pink noise... 623 00:46:12,240 --> 00:46:14,640 STATIC 624 00:46:14,640 --> 00:46:19,080 ..a sort of audio static, which drowns out any sound from the outside world. 625 00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:25,120 So Henry can't see, and as long as those headphones are on, 626 00:46:25,120 --> 00:46:26,560 he can't hear. 627 00:46:29,240 --> 00:46:32,800 OK, so when you say go, I go. OK, go. Go. 628 00:46:34,200 --> 00:46:37,880 My job is to control the model submarine. 629 00:46:37,880 --> 00:46:41,600 I can send it anywhere in the pool. 630 00:46:41,600 --> 00:46:45,560 And Henry knows that if he finds it, he'll get a fish. 631 00:46:47,160 --> 00:46:50,200 But he'll only get the chance to start his search 632 00:46:50,200 --> 00:46:53,160 when I've stopped the sub completely, 633 00:46:53,160 --> 00:46:56,000 so there's no motor noise or splashing to help him locate it. 634 00:46:59,040 --> 00:47:02,520 OK, Henry. Do your stuff. 635 00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:20,640 He's found it! He found it blindfold. Yeah. 636 00:47:20,640 --> 00:47:22,040 It's no problem for him. 637 00:47:23,040 --> 00:47:26,640 In fact, because he's blindfolded, it's only the sound 638 00:47:26,640 --> 00:47:30,600 of Sven splashing that enables him to find his way back to us. 639 00:47:30,600 --> 00:47:34,280 He's not using his eyes, he can't. There's nothing to hear, 640 00:47:34,280 --> 00:47:38,120 because it's not running any more, I've stopped it. That's astonishing. 641 00:47:39,520 --> 00:47:43,080 And it looks like Henry wants to play again. 642 00:47:56,840 --> 00:48:00,240 But it doesn't matter how many times we do it, 643 00:48:00,240 --> 00:48:04,960 or what route I choose for the sub. Henry finds it every single time. 644 00:48:07,480 --> 00:48:09,520 Good! Oh, that was fantastic. 645 00:48:13,120 --> 00:48:18,120 And it's not just the fact he finds it that's impressive, 646 00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:19,800 it's the way he finds it. 647 00:48:21,720 --> 00:48:25,160 He swims the exact same route as the sub. 648 00:48:36,840 --> 00:48:38,560 What a clever boy. 649 00:48:39,920 --> 00:48:44,640 Believe it or not, Henry is finding the sub with his whiskers. 650 00:48:45,760 --> 00:48:50,280 They're so sensitive that they're picking up the underwater trail 651 00:48:50,280 --> 00:48:52,360 the sub has left behind. 652 00:48:52,360 --> 00:48:54,400 That's amazing. Do it again. 653 00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:25,640 And he swam the exact trail of where it had been. 654 00:49:27,280 --> 00:49:29,080 That's astonishing. 655 00:49:29,080 --> 00:49:32,400 'So astonishing that Sven has to prove to me 656 00:49:32,400 --> 00:49:35,840 'that it's really Henrys whiskers that are doing the work.' 657 00:49:39,800 --> 00:49:44,320 In this small tank, the water is almost completely still... 658 00:49:47,400 --> 00:49:50,080 ..allowing the researchers to generate 659 00:49:50,080 --> 00:49:53,600 tiny precise eddies coloured with green ink. 660 00:50:00,040 --> 00:50:03,400 Even though they create barely a ripple, 661 00:50:03,400 --> 00:50:06,560 Henry's whiskers pick them up immediately, 662 00:50:06,560 --> 00:50:09,520 twitching on the side the eddy is touched. 663 00:50:17,360 --> 00:50:21,840 Which, I have to admit, is fairly convincing. 664 00:50:31,560 --> 00:50:35,680 This whole concept of whiskers letting you feel your way around 665 00:50:35,680 --> 00:50:39,040 is something that I can use myself. 666 00:50:39,040 --> 00:50:41,960 This is a very big car and, historically, 667 00:50:41,960 --> 00:50:45,800 I have struggled to put the thing away, back it into the garage. 668 00:50:45,800 --> 00:50:47,280 Not any more, 669 00:50:47,280 --> 00:50:51,600 because what I have here is a set of purpose-built whiskers. 670 00:50:51,600 --> 00:50:54,760 I'll be able to feel my way into the garage. 671 00:50:54,760 --> 00:50:57,800 Ah, this is going to be brilliant. Right, let me explain. 672 00:50:57,800 --> 00:51:00,400 These are the whiskers, obviously. 673 00:51:00,400 --> 00:51:03,920 When it encounters, let's say, a garage door or the wall at the back, 674 00:51:03,920 --> 00:51:06,440 it moves. And when it does that, 675 00:51:06,440 --> 00:51:08,880 it moves inside this little loop of metal, 676 00:51:08,880 --> 00:51:12,720 which touches this coil on the outside of the whisker, like that. 677 00:51:12,720 --> 00:51:17,120 And I can demonstrate with the control box, here. You see? 678 00:51:17,120 --> 00:51:20,560 That whisker's touching, it lights up. 679 00:51:20,560 --> 00:51:25,000 And that's pretty much how a real whisker works. 680 00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:29,240 The bristle itself has no feeling at all, but the movement 681 00:51:29,240 --> 00:51:34,000 against nerve endings at its base sends signals back to the brain. 682 00:51:35,840 --> 00:51:39,760 It's a deliciously simple idea, and I thought of it myself entirely, 683 00:51:39,760 --> 00:51:42,640 and at no point did my mate Hadrian help me with it. 684 00:51:42,640 --> 00:51:46,480 It was me. Right, that's fitted. This is brilliant. 685 00:51:48,400 --> 00:51:52,480 There's actually no technology here that they didn't have in 1934, 686 00:51:52,480 --> 00:51:56,160 so I don't know why they didn't fit it as standard. 687 00:51:56,160 --> 00:51:57,360 Right... 688 00:51:59,560 --> 00:52:02,960 Oh, yeah! Ignition on. 689 00:52:02,960 --> 00:52:04,400 Please start. 690 00:52:04,400 --> 00:52:06,800 ENGINE SPUTTERS 691 00:52:09,600 --> 00:52:11,320 Ooo-ooh! 692 00:52:11,320 --> 00:52:14,320 Right, I'm slightly scared all of a sudden. 693 00:52:16,600 --> 00:52:20,440 It's at this point you should probably know that this car 694 00:52:20,440 --> 00:52:22,400 used to drive the Queen Mum about. 695 00:52:22,400 --> 00:52:25,960 And it's actually worth quite a bit. 696 00:52:27,920 --> 00:52:30,680 Oh, hang on, I've got a contact there. 697 00:52:32,400 --> 00:52:35,800 So that tells me I should move a bit further that way. 698 00:52:40,280 --> 00:52:42,480 It works! 699 00:52:42,480 --> 00:52:44,680 Well, I think this is straight. 700 00:52:44,680 --> 00:52:49,440 Let's have a go. No lights, so I think I'm through. Yes! 701 00:52:49,440 --> 00:52:53,760 I've never been able to reverse this car into this garage on my own. 702 00:52:53,760 --> 00:52:56,440 I've always had to have somebody with me. 703 00:52:56,440 --> 00:52:58,840 Now, thanks to my whiskers technology... 704 00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:03,240 Aw, yes! 705 00:53:03,240 --> 00:53:05,920 That actually works. I mean, genuinely... 706 00:53:05,920 --> 00:53:09,760 This is the horrible thing, cos it's a very long car, 707 00:53:09,760 --> 00:53:13,240 it's a limousine, this will now tell me when I hit the back wall. 708 00:53:13,240 --> 00:53:15,880 Well, obviously before I hit the back wall! 709 00:53:20,880 --> 00:53:23,640 Whoa, there we go! 710 00:53:23,640 --> 00:53:26,160 I'm in! 711 00:53:29,320 --> 00:53:36,080 It turns out that if you scale that exact same idea up, quite a lot, 712 00:53:36,080 --> 00:53:38,480 you end up with something pretty cool. 713 00:53:59,120 --> 00:54:02,000 ENGINE PURRS 714 00:54:02,000 --> 00:54:03,760 Oh! We're off. 715 00:54:12,240 --> 00:54:14,680 This is the Terramax. 716 00:54:15,800 --> 00:54:19,120 It's a 10-ton, six-wheel drive military truck, 717 00:54:19,120 --> 00:54:22,880 there's nobody in here but me, and I'm not driving. 718 00:54:25,920 --> 00:54:27,440 Yeah, it's driving itself. 719 00:54:27,440 --> 00:54:29,680 And it really is. 720 00:54:31,040 --> 00:54:36,000 It's not remote-controlled, it's not some glorified form of sat-nav 721 00:54:36,000 --> 00:54:39,440 and there's no hidden driver. 722 00:54:39,440 --> 00:54:43,480 Which begs the question - how can it see where it's going? 723 00:54:46,600 --> 00:54:49,440 In fact, it's using whiskers. 724 00:54:49,440 --> 00:54:53,200 All right, if it's got whiskers, where are they? 725 00:54:55,960 --> 00:54:59,400 But these are a very special sort of whisker. 726 00:54:59,400 --> 00:55:01,080 Because they're invisible. 727 00:55:04,280 --> 00:55:06,120 In fact, they're lasers. 728 00:55:07,560 --> 00:55:12,680 Up on the roof, that spinning cylinder houses 64 of them, 729 00:55:12,680 --> 00:55:15,720 each one revolving 15 times a second. 730 00:55:17,440 --> 00:55:21,240 And that equates to it managing to gather, every second, 731 00:55:21,240 --> 00:55:25,040 1.3 million touches on the landscape. 732 00:55:29,080 --> 00:55:30,960 And this is what that looks like. 733 00:55:32,280 --> 00:55:38,080 Each tiny dot on the screen shows a point a laser whisker has touched. 734 00:55:40,760 --> 00:55:45,640 Build those up over a couple of seconds and the Terramax gets 735 00:55:45,640 --> 00:55:49,280 an astonishingly accurate map of its surroundings. 736 00:55:50,560 --> 00:55:55,680 The idea is that a convoy of these supply trucks could drive 737 00:55:55,680 --> 00:55:59,760 behind enemy lines without putting servicemen at risk. 738 00:56:05,800 --> 00:56:09,440 But what would happen if they came upon something unexpected? 739 00:56:11,440 --> 00:56:13,880 Something like this. 740 00:56:16,200 --> 00:56:19,200 12 concrete-filled bollards. 741 00:56:45,760 --> 00:56:50,680 It should be terrifying, but it kind of isn't. It's kind of joyous. This thing has a personality. 742 00:56:50,680 --> 00:56:54,240 It's as close to alive as I can imagine a truck being. 743 00:57:03,520 --> 00:57:06,560 So how good are these things going to get? 744 00:57:06,560 --> 00:57:07,920 When will it end? 745 00:57:07,920 --> 00:57:11,640 When will we reach a point when somebody will say to you, "What?! 746 00:57:11,640 --> 00:57:13,920 "You're not driving yourself, are you? 747 00:57:13,920 --> 00:57:16,840 "I mean, why would you do that? It's dangerous and irresponsible." 748 00:57:18,920 --> 00:57:20,400 This is the future. 749 00:57:21,680 --> 00:57:25,520 This little truck, with its array of whiskers that work in exactly 750 00:57:25,520 --> 00:57:27,840 the same way that a harbour seal's whiskers do, 751 00:57:27,840 --> 00:57:30,480 it's just that these are lasers, is the future. 752 00:57:30,480 --> 00:57:33,040 This is what we'll all be in. 753 00:57:35,840 --> 00:57:37,840 It's brilliant. 754 00:57:45,120 --> 00:57:47,960 'Next time on Miracles Of Nature, 755 00:57:47,960 --> 00:57:51,320 'I'll be looking at animal super powers...' 756 00:57:51,320 --> 00:57:54,080 Ah, this is not at all pleasant. 757 00:57:55,880 --> 00:58:00,000 '..and discovering how scientists have copied them to help us 758 00:58:00,000 --> 00:58:02,920 'keep our cool...' That was a new personal best. 759 00:58:02,920 --> 00:58:05,480 '..make us ten times stronger...' 760 00:58:07,200 --> 00:58:08,880 And it works. 761 00:58:08,880 --> 00:58:10,960 '..and turn invisible.' 762 00:58:12,240 --> 00:58:14,320 That is astonishing! 763 00:58:28,240 --> 00:58:31,280 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd